Living inner practice: Zen – Bhakti – Integral Yoga
Series of conferences: Inner Ways – Inner Practice
“There is nothing to do,” was the teacher’s last words.
“I understand,” the student thought to himself and went back to sleep.
With this provocative quote we would like to awaken your interest and invite you to a journey of exploration together – into a field of lived inner practice on the path.
How can lived inner practice serve me and how do I serve the practice in my everyday life? What inspirations and guidance do I need for the practice to unfold into a naturalness of “remembering myself”? What seed do I want to water so that the potential of being human develops and the true being blossoms? And – as Gurdjieff put it: to walk the path of unfolding the soul, this first requires “conscious effort” – am I ready for this?
The new conference series gives us insights into teaching paths in theory and practice. We can open our minds to different inner paths that ultimately lead to the same universal essence. In a time when flattening is also finding its way into the transmission of spiritual content, immersion in a seriously practised teaching grounded in essence can contribute to an essential anchoring within ourselves.
In this international conference we will first devote ourselves to Zen, a Bhakti path and Integral Yoga. We would like to approach the teaching paths through their representatives, hear about their experiences, be guided, ask questions and immerse ourselves in essential elements of the respective practice.
Three teachers, who dedicate their lives to the inner path and have many years of experience in their respective practices, will accompany us during these days:
OM C. Parkin, Regina Sarah Ryan and Ryu Künne.
Living the practice of Integral Yoga
Talks with OM C. Parkin
The highest yoga teaches not only the Great Union of visible and invisible impermanent worlds with the Primordial Ground of eternal silence, but also the harmonious living of an inner man. The knowledge of the different bodies of the human being, their hierarchical order and the corresponding weighting in the inner practice gives the inner human being the orientation and guidance he needs in order not to leave the path of the centre. On the integral path of the centre, the inner opposites, such as body and mind, or the poles of male and female are united in dynamic balance.
OM describes the main features of the high, spiritual liberation teachings of the human being and gives practical instructions for inner practice in everyday and non-everyday life.
In addition, OM will instruct Sacred Movements – a sacred form of movement – and possibly other forms of chi work.
OM C. Parkin is a spiritual master, mystic, philosopher and book author. He is the initiator of the OM Foundation Inner Science, director of the mystery school Enneallionce – School for Inner Work and founder of the modern monastery Gut Saunstorf – Place of Silence.
The teaching of the silent tradition, which he also calls Inner Science, is based on the one hand on the Eastern advaita tradition (teaching of non-duality, the best known representative in the West is Ramana Maharshi), as well as on the teachings of the integral yoga of the Indian sage Aurobindo Ghose, and on the other hand on Western paths of experience (e.g. Christian mysticism, Georges I. Gurdjieff: The Fourth Way).
TATTOOED NUN ON A HARLEY
Riding the Bhakti Road from Convent to Ashram
Lecture and Dialogue with Regina Sara Ryan
You are invited to accompany Regina Sara Ryan as she retraces a map of her long journey within the bhakti tradition – from her earliest immersion in the heart teachings of Christian mysticism and her life as a Roman Catholic nun, to her meeting with and subsequent thirty-five years of in-person work with Western Baul Master, Khépa Lee Lozowick (1943-2010). Along the way, Regina will make stops to consider her extraordinary connection with Lee’s beloved Master, Yogi Ramsuratkumar; the prayer of the heart (and other ways of praying dangerously); radical reliance on guru/God; and the role of music, meditation, pilgrimage and writing in her own efforts at igniting the inner life.
A Return to the Mother – Practice Session with Regina Sara Ryan
“The Process is feminine and the keys to the lock which imprisons Reality or Truth is in a feminine approach with very gentle, humorous, patient, accepting relationships to it. If we approach the Work as Woman, we may just discover something quite unexpected and surprising, but no less delightful.“
Lee Lozowick
Using the poetry and songs of many great lovers of God from various traditions (including the Bauls of Bengal), as well as Lee Lozowick’s prayers to and praise of Yogi Ramsuratkumar, Regina will guide participants in recalling, writing about and celebrating their own heart’s love and longing.
Regina Sara Ryan writes books and gives seminars. Until the early seventies she lived as a Roman Catholic nun in a convent. Since leaving, she has been involved in the study of contemplation and mysticism. She also explored religious paths outside Christianity and was particularly inspired by the lives of great women in Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Sufism. In 1984 she met her last and most essential spiritual teacher, Lee Lozowick, whose teachings are grounded in the Indian Baul tradition. She continues to follow what she calls the path of “unashamed devotion”. Her home is in Arizona.
Koan-Method in Zen
Contribution from Ryu Künne
A koan (saying of a ZEN master, incident between master and disciple), which at first glance, when viewed rationally, appears to be a mystical riddle, is intended to lead discursive thinking “ad absurdum” and, ideally, to open up the so-called “self-awareness” with a “mental breakthrough” (Jap. Satori, Kensho).
Self-being vision (realisation of Buddha-nature) is most aptly exemplified by the exclamation of the Indian Zen patriarch Bodhidharma:
“Independent of word & writing,
looking instantly at the very heart of things,
looking at the primal nature, become a Buddha.”
Daruma, 480 n. Chr.
Ryu Künne is the founder and operator of the Wolkentor ZEN temple in Halle (Saale). As a ZEN master of the Rinzai lineage, he practices the special method of “Koan Zen”.
Practical information on the event:
- This event is bilingual (German/English). Translation is possible if required.
We appreciate early registration for our events.
Leader
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OM C. ParkinOM C. Parkin is a wisdom teacher, mystic and inner scientist.
As a spiritual master of the silent tradition, OM knows how to unite the Western and Eastern streams of wisdom teaching. The radicalism of his making these teachings accessible and serving the awakening path of the human being is a rare treasure in the present time. The encounter with OM deeply questions what you are not and makes you fall into what you have always been.
OM shares his realization of the Absolute in talks on Being (Darshan) and in Inner Work, as well as an author and in lectures. He is the initiator of the OM Foundation Inner Science and the publishing house for wisdom literature advaitaMedia, the founder and director of the mystery school Enneallionce – School for Inner Work and the modern monastery Gut Saunstorf – Place of Stillness.
